Turkish exporters are losing millions daily due to tougher inspections of cargo at the border with Russia. As the newspaper “Zaman” writes, for three days Antalya hasn’t been able to send fruit and vegetable goods to Russia.

“In 2014, Antalya sent 350 million dollars of food products to Russia. But now, with the beginning of the winter export season, the central warehouse at Antalya from which trucks constantly depart has been in complete silence for three days,” the publication writes.

Representatives of one of the largest exporters reported that they send up to 100 loads on 7-8 vessels to Russia weekly. The cost of sending one load costs 40-50 thousand dollars.

“In Russia now three vessels and one hundred loads are expected. The damage is hard to assess. Because of this standby, we had to send home around 5,000 of our employees,” a representative of the Kalondju group said.

In Antalya’s neighboring province of Mugla, exporters are sending no less than 30 loads to Russia weekly. “Russia has closed checkpoints. Loads are not getting through. Our export terminal at the central warehouse is closed. After the plane (the Russian Su-24) was shot down, we can’t send goods. Daily damage are around one million lira (more than 350,000 dollars)”, a representative of the Karalli company said.

Against this background, princes for fruits and vegetables have dropped on the internal Turkish market, TASS reports. The price of some products has dropped 30-50%. This will result in a sharp decline of income and possible the need to destroy harvested crops...”

Enhanced control

The Ministry of Agriculture reported on Wednesday that the government of the Russian Federation has requested that the Federal Service on Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance institute enhanced control on the delivery of agricultural products and food products from Turkey, as well as arrange additional checks at the border and in production places in Turkey itself.

According to the department, the Ministry of Agriculture recently received appeals from consumers and trade associations concerning issues of safety of agricultural products and food imported from Turkey. After assessing the situation, the head of the ministry “informed the government that, unfortunately, approximately 15% of Turkey’s agricultural products do not meet Russian standards.”

Exporters are saying that tests are 100% thorough and customs officers unload goods and carefully check documents for transit.